Month: November 2006

Environmental groups are considering resuming their lawsuit against the EPA. They say it’s a travesty the agency has tacked an extra couple of years onto their original plan to phase out a widely used pesticide. But some fruit growers are struggling to find an alternative that’s as effective as what they’re losing. Bob Allen reports their industry has little margin for error:

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Environmental groups are considering resuming their lawsuit against the EPA. They say it’s a travesty the agency has tacked an extra couple of years onto their original plan to phase out a widely used pesticide. But some fruit growers are struggling to find an alternative that’s as effective as what they’re losing. Bob Allen reports their industry has little margin for error:

Azinphos methyl or AZM is the main insecticide used in cherry and apple orchards. The cherry industry has zero tolerance for any insect parts found in the fruit. Whole truckloads of cherries have been dumped because of a single fruit fly maggot.

Michigan State University researcher Mark Whalon says so far there’s no alternative to AZM that can do the job. He’s been testing the use of alternatives in orchards for the last three years.

“Other locations where cherries are grown can use these compounds, export them into our markets and essentially put us out of business because they can grow cherries at a very much reduced cost.”

This spring EPA planned to phase out AZM on fruit by 2010. But a week ago the agency decided to allow its use to continue two years beyond that.

For The Environment Report, I’m Bob Allen.

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Wildfires account for a lot of property damage every year in the US, and forestry officials are constantly assessing how to predict when and where they will occur. One researcher says a largely overlooked predictor is the human factor. Brian Bull reports:

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Wildfires account for a lot of property damage every year in the US, and forestry officials are constantly assessing how to predict when and where they will occur. One researcher says a largely overlooked predictor is the human factor. Brian Bull reports:

Generally, vegetation and terrain are examined to figure out fire-prone areas. But Alexandra Syphard, a University of Wisconsin researcher, says most blazes happen along developments or roads, where forestland borders urban areas. Syphard says while she used southern California for her research model, her findings can be applied anywhere there is natural terrain along with man-made roads and structures.

“While the variables may differ a little bit in their degree of influence in different regions, you can still use these same kinds of methods to account for all of the factors that influence fires, as opposed to what a lot of people commonly do which is just simply looking at areas where fuels have accumulated.”

Syphard presented her research at the Third International Fire Ecology and Management Congress. She says variables such as terrain, climate, and vegetation still figure largely in active burns but that the human factor needs to be reviewed more closely.

For the Environment Report, I’m Brian Bull.

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The US EPA is reconsidering a decision to let cement plants off the hook when it comes to mercury emissions. Tests at several cement plants showed they were emitting up to ten times the mercury being disclosed. Tracy Samilton reports:

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The US EPA is reconsidering a decision to let cement plants off the hook when it comes to mercury emissions. Tests at several cement plants showed they were emitting up to ten times the mercury being disclosed. Tracy Samilton reports:

Cement plants emit mercury from both the coal they burn and from processing limestone, an ingredient of cement. But the EPA has never regulated the mercury emissions. The agency said it would be too costly for the industry. Cement manufacturers say they plan to voluntarily reduce mercury emissions over time.

But Michael Wall of the Natural Resources Defense Council says the EPA needs to exert control over the plants now.

“It would be as if we took a segment of the coal-fired power plant industry and just said ’emit mercury freely, we’re not going to do anything about it.’ That makes really bad policy and it’s really bad for our public health.”

An EPA spokesman says the agency is taking a second look at the issue, in light of stack tests showing some plants may have been grossly underestimating their mercury emissions.

For the Environment Report, I’m Tracy Samilton.

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Environmental advocates are calling for tighter controls on the farm pesticide methyl bromide, after finding out there’s more of the chemical sitting around in places such as railroad tank cars. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

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Environmental advocates are calling for tighter controls on the farm pesticide methyl bromide, after finding out there’s more of the chemical sitting around in places such as railroad tank cars. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Under an international agreement made during the 1980’s, the US is supposed to be phasing out use of methyl bromide. The chemical is linked to potential health risks and destruction of the ozone layer.

But it was recently learned that the size of the US stockpile of methyl bromide is larger than previously revealed. Now the Bush Administration has promised the US would try to cut production of methyl bromide while reducing the stockpile.

David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council says it’s now up to the EPA to live up to that promise in upcoming regulations.

“The EPA needs to cut that production allowance, because the stockpiles are there to meet the needs.”

The EPA says it’s trying to keep a “strategic reserve” of methyl bromide, while a lot of money is being spent on developing alternative pesticides.

For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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With ongoing concerns about over-reliance on fossil fuels, researchers and entrepreneurs are looking for alternate ways to generate energy. One university scientist has created a power plant fueled by organic waste, including table scraps from restaurants. Tamara Keith reports:

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With ongoing concerns about over-reliance on fossil fuels, researchers and entrepreneurs are looking for alternate ways to generate energy. One university scientist has created a power plant fueled by organic waste, including table scraps from restaurants. Tamara Keith reports:

At Boulevard, an upscale restaurant, diners lunch on seared sea scallops, paella and grilled escolar among other options.

Back in the kitchen cooks are careful to keep all food scraps out of the trash.

(Kitchen sounds, scraping sounds)

The food scraps from this restaurant and 2,000 others in the San Francisco Bay Area are already being collected to turn into compost.

But now some of that food, about 8 tons a week, is going to a new biogas power plant at the University of California Davis. Tim Quaintance is a chef at Boulevard. He says he’s pleased that his leftovers aren’t just going to a landfill.

“It’s nice that in the past things that have basically been thrown away are now actually being used, and with this technology really contributing to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.”

(Generator runs in background)

In Davis, the table scraps are being converted into fuel at an experimental power plant known as the Biogas Energy Project. With its four large steel tanks and 22 kilowatt generator, this plant is the first real-world demonstration of a technique called anaerobic phased solids digestion.

Rayhong Jha is a professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of California Davis. She first developed this technology on a smaller scale in her lab.

“What you see here is 20,000 times larger than the reactor system I use for laboratory testing.”

It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, leftovers into power, but Dave Konwinski says it’s real. He’s CEO of Onsite Power Systems Incorporated which licensed the technology and operates the plant.

“Every ton of collected food waste will provide enough either electrical or thermal energy to run an average of 10 California homes.”

Konwinski sees this test plant as the first step to commercializing biogas power plants. Here’s how it works: the food waste as well as grass clippings and other would-be-trash go into a sealed tank where bacteria break the mush down into water and organic acids… kind of like what happens if you leave lettuce in the fridge too long. When that’s done, the organic acids are pumped into another tank where different bacteria convert the soup into methane gas.

“Biogas can be used to run a generator, we have a generator we’ll be running here, or we can use it in the boiler to offset natural gas heat, and we’re looking at taking the gas and converting it into vehicle fuels.”

The trash and recycling company that serves San Francisco, NorCal Waste Systems, is providing the raw materials. Robert Reed is company’s director of corporate communications.

“This research and other research like this is very important because it could be a double or a triple. What I mean by that is it could produce new energy. It could reduce the amount of material going to landfills. And it could help reduce the creation of greenhouse gasses.”

And Reed says if this technology proves to be commercially viable, the results could be huge. In just California alone, 38 million tons of garbage is sent to landfills each year. He says half of that could be converted to power, and that’s enough energy to continuously power the entire city of San Francisco.

Suddenly leaving a little broccoli on your plate doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

For the Environment Report, I’m Tamara Keith.

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Underground mines that were abandoned long ago are coming back to haunt the people and places above them. The voids and toxic metals left behind are posing new kinds of environmental challenges. But one church that was almost destroyed by a mine is now trying to turn it into a new kind of green resource. Katherine Fink reports:

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Underground mines that were abandoned long ago are coming back to haunt the people and places above them. The voids and toxic metals left behind are posing new kinds of environmental challenges. But one church that was almost destroyed by a mine is now trying to turn it into a new kind of green resource. Katherine Fink reports:

John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church is on a street where cars don’t stop. Crime rates are high here. A faded sign with graffiti on it indicates where a convenience store used to be. Most of the church’s stained glass windows are either missing or covered with plywood. Pastor Calvin Cash says he remembers when things were different.

“This was once a thriving community. Stores, residential homes, businesses, the whole bit.”

Cash was first assigned to the church in 1996. It had been closed for a couple years. He found 18 inches of orange water in the basement. Moss was growing on the walls. Cash says church leaders had known about the water problem, but thought they had it under control.

“For years, they had sump pumps down in the basement. And when the water reaches a certain level, the sump pumps would come on, and carry it away.”

Meanwhile, state environmental workers were investigating another mysterious pool of water down the street. They suspected an old underground mine had filled with water and was starting to burst. One of those workers, Charles Johnson, noticed the church nearby.

“I left a card inside of the mailbox with my number on it and said if you are having any water problems in your basement, give me a call… so within two days, reverend Cash gave me a call and said, ‘you got to see this.'”

Mine-related issues are not new for the Pittsburgh area, which has one of the largest coal seams in the country. But water problems like these are becoming increasingly common as more and more mine voids fill to capacity. Johnson says in the church’s case, the need for a fix was urgent.

“The pressure on the building from the water; it was just a matter of time before the pressure would just collapse the whole building.”

Workers redirected the water into local storm sewers, relieving the pressure on the church.

Since then, Johnson says they’ve learned that mine water can actually be useful. Its constant 57-degree temperature makes it an attractive candidate for geothermal heating, which uses the earth’s natural warmth.

George Watzlaf with the National Energy Technology Laboratory has studied the idea.

Geothermal heat is becoming increasingly common as a lower-cost alternative to natural gas. Pipes filled with an antifreeze solution carry heat from deep in the earth up into buildings. Instead of using antifreeze, Watzlaf says he wants to build a system that draws in mine water:

“We’re trying to put together a small project where we price everything out to say, okay, all we need is $10,000 to go out and put in a small system somewhere, heat a shed or something like that. Just to, no pun intended, get our feet wet and just learn some things about some of the potential problems and how we can overcome those problems.”

Reverend Cash wants his church to be that demonstration project. Since learning about geothermal heat and its potential cost savings, Cash is convinced it could save his blighted neighborhood. He’s become a convert to all things green.

“We are responsible for this world, and God expects us to take care of it.”

On this night, Cash is holding a workshop at the church to help residents learn how to make their homes more energy efficient. Only one person came. Trays full of untouched sandwiches, fried chicken and cookies are being wrapped up for another day, but reverend Cash says he’s not discouraged. Sometimes, he says it takes something big to get people’s attention:

“One of the best proofs of it, when they were taking that water out of there, we had all that heavy equipment active out there, and if 10 cars went by, nine of then slowed down or stopped to see what was going on. And I think when we start building back this community, that curiosity will grow, and benefit us. So we’ll hold on and see.”

Cash is hoping to convince the state to have faith in geothermal heat. His church is applying for a grant this year.

The sea lamprey invaded the Great Lakes more than a hundred years ago, and no one’s been able to get rid of it. But Rebecca Williams reports it’s the only invader in the Lakes that managers have been able to control. Experts say it can only be kept in check if Congress continues to provide funding each year:

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The sea lamprey invaded the Great Lakes more than a hundred years ago, and no one’s been able to get rid of it. But Rebecca Williams reports it’s the only invader in the Lakes that managers have been able to control. Experts say it can only be kept in check if Congress continues to provide funding each year:

The sea lamprey got into the Great Lakes through a manmade canal. The parasite attaches itself to fish and sucks out the blood and body fluids.
By the 1950’s, sea lampreys knocked out the big predator fish in the Lakes.

A few years later, biologists discovered a pesticide that kills lampreys. That pesticide is the major tool managers still use today to keep lamprey numbers down.

Marc Gaden is with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The commission’s in charge of controlling the lampreys. He says in order to have healthy fish populations, lampreys have to be kept in check.

“It’s like a coiled spring, as long as you have your thumb on it, everything’s fine but the moment you take it away it’ll just spring out of control, bounce back right to where it was before.”

The Bush Administration’s proposed budget cut some of the funding for the lamprey program. But the fishery commission is hopeful Congress will restore the funding.

A sea lamprey, the first invasive species in the Great Lakes. (Photo courtesy of the USEPA)

Lampreys on a lake trout. Lampreys attach to their host fish, and bore into them. (Photo courtesy of the USEPA)

If a fish survives a lamprey, the resulting wound is debilitating. (Photo courtesy of the USEPA)

One of the most destructive invasive species in the Great Lakes was also the first one to arrive. The sea lamprey invaded the Lakes more than a hundred years ago, and no one’s been able to get rid of it. As Rebecca Williams reports, it’s the only invader in the Lakes that managers have been able to control… but it takes millions of taxpayers’ dollars every year to keep the blood-sucking parasite in check, and there’s no end in sight:
http://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/williams_112706.mp3

Transcript

One of the most destructive invasive species in the Great Lakes was also the first one to arrive. The sea lamprey invaded the Lakes more than a hundred years ago, and no one’s been able to get rid of it. As Rebecca Williams reports, it’s the only invader in the Lakes that managers have been able to control… but it takes millions of taxpayers’ dollars every year to keep the blood-sucking parasite in check, and there’s no end in sight:

(Sounds of tank bubbling)

There’s a sea lamprey sucking on Marc Gaden’s hand.

“You can see he’s really got my thumb now, I’ll try and pull him off my thumb – this is a suction cup (popping sound of lamprey being detached).”

Gaden is with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. It’s a group that was created by the US and Canadian governments with one main purpose: to control the sea lamprey. Gaden isn’t in any actual danger when a lamprey’s hanging on him. They don’t feed on warm-blooded creatures. But fish are another story.

“The mouth is ringed with sharp teeth, row after row of these sharp teeth, and in the middle of the mouth there is a tongue that flicks out and it’s sharp as a razor. What that tongue does is files its way through the side of the fish’s scales and skin and then the sea lamprey has access to blood and body fluids of the fish and that’s what it does, it feeds on them.”

Sea lamprey get fat drinking fish blood and fluids. They leave bloody holes in the side of fish, wounds that often kill the fish. Each lamprey can kill 40 pounds of fish a year.

Lamprey got into the lakes through manmade canals that connected to the Atlantic Ocean. By the 1940’s, the exotic species had invaded every one of the Great Lakes. Marc Gaden says by the 1950’s, lampreys had killed off most of the big predator fish in the Lakes.

“There’s literature around that time period that talked about gaping bloody wounds that commercial fishermen were finding on their catch, the commercial catch was beginning to go down the tubes, also because of overfishing, but sea lamprey was a major cause of that decline.”

Paul Jensen’s family used to fish for the popular lake trout before the lamprey wiped them out. Jensen now fishes for whitefish. He’s one of a small pool of commercial fishers who still pull a living from the Lakes.

“Every port along southern Michigan had commercial fishermen. South Haven, St. Joseph, Ludington, Manistee… There aren’t any, they’re gone. And one of the main reasons they’re gone, I think can be traced back to sea lamprey.”

Jensen says most commercial fishers these days have to do more than catch fish. He also runs a marina and builds research boats. Jensen says commercial fishers either had to adapt to the changes the lampreys brought or get out of the business.

“The whole food chain has just been devastated and turned upside down by exotics, and it’s been kind of a mystery; we have no clue as to where it’s gonna go. We’re glad with what we’re getting but I don’t know if we have much control of where it’s going.”

The people who manage fisheries have been wrestling for control over the sea lamprey. Marc Gaden says the lamprey control program has reduced the parasites’ numbers by 90 percent over the past 50 years. But he says lampreys have recently rebounded above target levels in several areas of the Great Lakes.

“It goes to show you these are crafty beasts. Even though they’re primitive and haven’t evolved much since the time of the dinosaurs, they still will find ways in which to spread and find new stream habitats and we always have to try our best to stay one step ahead of them.”

Gaden says the fishery commission has been aggressively treating the areas where lamprey numbers are too high. The main method is a lampricide that kills lamprey when they spawn in streams. Researchers are also working on chemical attractants to lure lampreys into traps.

But all of this takes money. Since the 1950’s, the US and Canada have spent about $300 million to keep lampreys in check. Marc Gaden says that sounds like a lot of money, until you look at the value of the fishery. It’s valued at about 4 billion dollars a year.

“So the amount of money we spend, upwards of 20 million a year, to keep lampreys under control, is a tiny fraction of the value of that fishery. But nevertheless it’s a cost we’re going to have to endure in perpetuity because the lampreys are not going away.”

But the Bush Administration’s proposed budget cut some of the funding for lamprey control. The fishery commission is hopeful that Congress will restore the funding. Marc Gaden says if we want any sport fishing, any tribal fishing, any commercial fishing… lampreys have to be kept under control, and that takes steady funding from Congress.

Dozens of home appliances will have to meet higher energy efficiency standards sooner than expected. Rebecca Williams reports the Department of Energy agreed to speed up its rulemaking process to settle a federal lawsuit:

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Dozens of home appliances will have to meet higher energy efficiency standards sooner than expected. Rebecca Williams reports the Department of Energy agreed to speed up its rulemaking process to settle a federal lawsuit:

The energy department has to propose stricter energy standards for appliances within the next five years.

Attorneys general from 14 states and a few public interest groups sued the Department of Energy. The plaintiffs said the agency was dragging its feet on updating energy standards. In some cases, the agency has missed deadlines by as much as 14 years.

Chuck Samuels is with the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. He says it is time to update the standards for some products.

“But we need to make sure that we don’t require such radical redesigns in products that either they become cost prohibitive or burdensome for many consumers, or that they take away the basic functions and utilities that consumers expect.”

The groups who filed the suit say higher energy standards will save consumers money in the long run.

For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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Over the next six years, the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out the remaining uses of an insecticide used on foods. Lester Graham reports, some environmentalists say it should be banned immediately:

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Over the next six years, the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out the remaining uses of an insecticide used on foods. Lester Graham reports, some environmentalists say it should be banned immediately:

The insecticide azinphos-methyl, or AZM, is still used on some vegetables, nuts, and fruits. The chemical can cause short term harm to farm workers and their families who live near orchards. Over-exposure can cause nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases convulsions, coma, and death. Low-level long-term exposure can cause memory loss and other affects on the brain.

Shelley Davis is with the group Farmworker Justice.

“There are plenty of adequate, safer alternatives for pest control on the market already. Growers do not need to use AZM. This is the time the EPA should show leadership and should say ‘Let’s switch to safer alternatives.'”

The insecticide won’t be completely phased out until late in 2012. Apples, blueberries, parsley, cherries and pears will be the last foods still treated with AZM.